Leveson report: hacking victims' lawyer David Sherborne says regulator must be set up sooner rather than later

David Sherborne, counsel for victims of phone hacking and press intrusion at
the Leveson Inquiry, welcomes the recommendation for an independent
regulator of the press.

3:42PM GMT 29 Nov 2012

David Sherborne, the lawyer representing victims at the Leveson Inquiry, called the report "a weighty and impressive document" and welcomed Lord Leveson's recommendation for an independent regulator of the press, backed up by statute.

"In the face of compelling and often disturbing evidence, which my clients gave to the Inquiry, about their experiences at the hands of the press over the years, the need for a strong and independent regulator is frankly unarguable," he said.

"Today it seems we have finally learned from the failings of the past, and it is time now to implement these judicial recommendations within a timeframe so that if the press fails to create this independent regulator, it must be this parliament which imposes a statutory system upon them."

The 1,987-page report seems certain to lead to rows within the Coalition, with MPs split over whether any form of statutory involvement in press regulation is acceptable.